Numerous wheelchairs have been developed for both residential and commercial use, including motorized wheelchairs. Some of these have provided limited vertical adjustability, and others have attempted to permit transfer of a occupant either onto or off of the wheelchair, such as by providing a removable seat. These prior structures, however, have proven to be less than desirable since most have not provided both a durable and simple structure while permitting vertical adjustability, nor have they provided a structure which can be safely and conveniently manipulated to permit transfer of the occupant, such as when the seat is being transferred.
Rather, particularly in medical facilities, transfer of patients is still accomplished primarily by using lift devices wherein a wheeled frame is provided with a single vertically extendible upright post having a support arm projecting cantilevered from the upper end thereof, which arm at its free end has a slinglike flexible seat suspended therefrom for supporting a patient. Such mechanisms do not function as wheelchairs, however, but solely as lifting and transfer devices. Further, such devices are frightening to the patient since the patient is supported solely by the suspended flexible seat arrangement and does not have the comfort and security of being seated within a chair structure.
With respect to wheelchairs which have been developed for home use, while many such chairs have been motorized, nevertheless the known chairs have either provided no or only limited capability of permitting the occupant to raise and lower the seat, and have not permitted transfer from the chair. While various complex specialized chairs and transfer mechanisms have been developed to assist in transferring the patient into or out of a vehicle, including transfer to or from the vehicle and the wheelchair, nevertheless most of these devices have been extremely specialized, cumbersome and expensive, and hence have not permitted simplified and efficient transfer from a seemingly conventional wheelchair.
One of the primary disadvantages associated with the typical wheelchair is the inability to use the wheelchair in conjunction with a standard toilet. Most wheelchair occupants must be physically transferred from the wheelchair to the toilet, and then back to the wheelchair. This transfer typically requires assistance of a second person, or at the least the providing of numerous support bars and rails assuming that the wheelchair occupant has sufficient mobility as to be able to manage such transfer. Needless to say, such transfer, whether with or without a second person, is difficult to accomplish and can create a hazard for the wheelchair occupant. Further, such transfer necessarily requires significant space around the toilet to accommodate the wheelchair and any person assisting in the transfer, which space is not always available.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved wheelchair which is believed to represent a significant improvement over many of the wheelchairs and lifting devices which have been heretofore utilized, and which overcomes many of the disadvantageous mentioned above.
More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved wheelchair which can be utilized in conjunction with a standard toilet, and which overcomes many of the disadvantageous associated with standard wheelchairs described above, particularly by eliminating the need to transfer the occupant between the wheelchair and the toilet.